Up early again even though my body clock had stabilized somewhat, I opted for two breakfasts; the continental offered by the Tuscany, then an hour later, I tried the buffet at Terrible's Casino, just across Flamingo Road. It was not terrible.

Mornings had been more successful at the Alexis, so after stopping back by my room to pick up my camera, music and notebook, I grabbed the Expo bus to the Alexis. The gentleman driving this shuttle was somewhat agitated. He was only too happy to relate his story to a member of the press. It seems that on his first trip to the Alexis that morning, as he pulled into their loading zone, several C.E.S. types had very angrily tried to get him off his bus. They insisted that he had no right to drive up to the drop off point at their lobby, informed him that he was on private property and was trespassing. They were shouting and threatening to impound his shuttle. They insisted that he wait for the police, who they had just called, to take him into custody. It seems that was enough for him. He asked them to step away from his vehicle and he drove back to the Tuscany, shaken and angry.

It seems that our poor driver had not been given one key piece of information. He was to have dropped his passengers across the street from the Alexis, and was to pick up riders there as well. Since no one had mentioned this to him, and the Expo employees with their signs were not on site yet, this had been a harrowing experience for him. Thought he seemed calmer while I was speaking with him, I could see that the event had rattled him. No one, and when he repeated it he emphasized that, NO ONE, took his bus away from him while he was working. With his tale complete, he dropped my traveling companions and me across the street form the Alexis, and I began my third day of covering the event.

One of the first rooms I entered was the Axiss Distribution room. These guys don't mess around. They import some high-ticket items from companies like Accuphase, Air Tight, Acrotec, German Physiks, Odeon and Transrotor. It was no surprise that the room was loaded with some great turntables from German manufacturer Transrotor. The most intriguing by far was the Transrotor Tourbilcon ($22000). Capable of supporting three separate arms, weighing in at 180 pounds and driven by three synchronous Pabst motors, it was a visual as well as sonic treat. Axiss was also showing the Transrotor Leonardo, a single motor unit with a 40 mm platter and a modified Rega RB250 arm ($2000). Quite impressive.

As it is always a treat, I made my way into the room by German manufacturer MBL for a lengthy stay. This year, they were showing a system that could drive a three or five, as well as traditional two channel, system. While I have to say that I have not being taken by any five channel (including 5.1) music system I've yet heard, the MBL room went a long way to convince me it was a valid idea.

However, the two-channel demonstration was just superb. The 66 pound mbl 1621 transport ($15500) played red book CD's and fed it's stream of ones and zeros to the mbl 1611D ($16915) 24 bit/192 kHz DAC. Preamplification was handled by the mbl 6010D ($13800), which sent the signal to the mbl 9010C amps ($21,790 each), all configured for mono operation. The latest iteration of the Radialstrahler, the mbl 101D ($35800 pair) speakers, converted the two channel material sound. There was a sense of space and reality that goes beyond just about any other system I can recall encountering with the mbl set up. Granted, it is not cheap, but what it does manage to do is give the listener a sense of being IN the music, not just hearing it played back. Timbre, dynamics, ease, pace, image specificity and soundstage recreation were breath taking.

In the three and five channel modes, the new mbl 111B System II speaker ($16700 pair) took on the duties of creating the center channel and the rears. Besides the remarkably realistic sense of life they create, the mbl speakers are visually unique and, to my eye, graceful and stunning looking as well.

I had been to the Eggleston Works Andra II room on Tuesday night briefly, but set-up problems had kept the room staff too busy for a real listen. Today, I was going to get a good listen. One of the other nice things about this room was that it was powered with the Pass Labs X600 amps. A Marantz SA1251 SACD player fronted the room and fed a Pass Labs X0.2 preamp. Cables were by Jeff Smith of Silversmith and the Grand Prix Audio Stands supported the equipment.

The sound was exceptional. The skin tones from drums and the blat and the dynamics of brass instruments on Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band [Silverline 82002-2] was exceptional. The swing of the music was communicated with both the timing necessary to get you moving and the pulse that closely mimicked the real thing. Rich timbres, wonderful scale, superb dynamics, deep, wide and realistically high stage, this was a great sounding room - period.

Having heard very good things, but never having heard the Eros electrostatics, I next headed to hear Roger Sanders InnerSound creations. The source was a Sony PCM-R500, feeding the InnerSound Line Stage Preamp ($2995). The Monobloc Electrostatic Amplifier ($2995) drove both the Eros Mk II ($5995) and the Passive Eros ($3995). Roger had his new Kilowatt Monobloc amps ($6995) on display as well. There are some things ESL's just get right, and the Eros is a shining example of those qualities. Superb midrange clarity, holographic soundstaging, smooth and detailed treble and blinding speed. Roger has put together some real magic with his system approach to the amp/speaker synergy, as this was one terribly musical room. I'm hopeful that we will get a chance to listen to these products in the near future and bring you a full report.

One of the other brands that enjoy the highest of praise is Germany's Burmester. Priced rather in the stratosphere than for mere mortals, the Burmester room was nevertheless a true treat. Using the 969 Reference CD Transport ($27930) to feed the 007 surround sound processor (Price TBA), signal was then routed to the 911 Mk 3 Mono Power Amps ($18710). The B97 Reference Speakers took on the task of converting electrical to acoustical with aplomb. All cables were of Burmester design as well as was the 948 Power Conditioner ($5620).

This room had both the feel of real music and the sense of immediacy that many so called high-end systems lack. Music was the result here, not hi-fi. It was remarkable transparent in its presentation, without that antiseptic feeling some high-end gear often imparts. While I can't believe that such expenditure should be necessary, I can understand why this equipment has been so highly thought of by those who have gotten to know its secrets.

Stopping by the Dunlavy room, the biggest news was that Keny Whitright, owner of Wybron, Inc., a professional lighting manufacturing firm located adjacent to Dunlavy Audio Labs in Colorado Springs, Colorado, had, on November 19 2001, purchased Dunlavy Audio Labs, Inc. John Dunlavy has been retained as the principal engineer for new product design and development.

Keny said of John, "If John Dunlavy were as good at managing and marketing a business as he is at speaker design, he'd be Donald Trump." The buzz in the room was more about business than it was about sound. Let's hope that the tradition continues.

By now it was late afternoon, and I decided to stop by the Press Room and check in, electronically speaking. There were only two on line machines in the pressroom, and as I walked up to the vacant one, I noticed R. Clark Johnsen, author of the now classic 1988 book, The Wood Effect working on the other. Though I had spoken with Clark during my days when I wrote for Positive Feedback, this was the first time we had a chance to meet face to face.

Now Clark is one of those guys who is always interesting to chat with. He was very excited about a newly developed product he was showing to people, silver-plated and cryogenically treated fuse blocks ($4) and wall sockets ($40). Treated by Jena labs, these things were both affordable and make sense. If you've not heard the difference that cryo-treatment can make, don't dismiss the ideas too rapidly. The difference is audible, and for the better. I'm going to look into these soon.

After chatting for a period, I decided to head back to the Tuscany. Making my way to the Rogue Bus Stop, I caught the shuttle and stopped back by my room to drop off some things I'd collected and headed out again.

Making my way to the third floor of the G building, getting off the elevator, I heard some very impressive Stevie Ray Vaughn emanating from the Audio Aero/Acapella room. Globe Audio Marketing had teamed with Tri-Cell Enterprises, both of Canada, to put together one show stopping room. Stepping in, I was simply captivated by what I was hearing.

It is no secret to those of you who know me that I've never heard a horn speaker that I've ever really liked - until now. The near eight foot tall Acapella Campanile ($32000) is a sealed 3.5-way loudspeaker system. Four 25 cm (10") woofers are working in separate chambers and cannot influence each other. Fine adjustments to the ion tweeter and the midrange horn unit can be made in order to adapt the loudspeaker to every acoustical environment.

The Audio Aero Capitole 24/192 CD Player ($6895) sourced these enormous loudspeakers. This is one sweet playback device. Its output was fed directly to the Capitole Power Amp ($8695), a 50 Wpc stereo amp with Audio Aero's exclusive triode/pentode Tube Relay Amplification Concept (TRAC) using 6SN7GTs, EL34's and KT88's.

This was one of the best sounding rooms I've ever walked into in show conditions. Though I have to admit that the soundstage was a bit larger than life, everything else was superb. The dynamics offered by the horns were breathtaking, yet never aggressive or "in your face" like so many other expensive and well-respected horns. Brass instruments were conveyed with the "blat" that you normally only get in concert. Stings were rich and alive, with a remarkable sense of their overtones, again reminding one of the concert hall. Timbre was spot on. Vocals were so liquid and breathy that it took my breath away when playing the Choral Fourth Movement of my Solti/LSO 9th Symphony by Beethoven. Folks, this was the real deal, and I was swept off my feet. This was the room that would get my nod for Best Sound at CES with a digital front end.

During the rest of the show, I found myself wandering back to this room repeatedly. Every time I walked back in over the next three days, Jody Hickson of Globe Audio Marketing gave me that knowing smile. He knows this is some great sounding equipment. The good news it that Jody was very agreeable to letting The Stereo Times examine the Audio Aero line more closely.

Well, there were other rooms, but none that stood out enough for me to take up any more space here. It was time to meet friends for dinner at one of my favorite places in Las Vegas, Gordon Biersch Brewery. Good food, and very good beer. Till Thursday!